thinking of buying a sp500ho or ac500auto what are the pros and cons thank you

 

Artik hoo?, oh you are talking about the Suzuki that they had a hard time selling so they tried to call it an Artic Cat. Could be a OK machine if you pampered it and had no thoughts of aftermarket help, other wise pick the " King of the 4X4". Words Chosen by the magazines that regularly talke **** about Polaris . Easy choice, Have fun with the 60 plus MPH tractor!!!!!! for much less than the purchase price of the competition. (just look and see)

 

Both are great machines. Here is my opinion in a nutshell.

Polaris - smoother ride, more ground clearance. Probably the sportiest utility machine made (except maybe for the Xplorer 400). Probably the better choice if you want a machine for trail riding first, and work second. Not that it can't work, just for pure utlity, I think the A/C is better.

Cat - Also a good ride (probably somewhere between Polaris Magnum & Sportsman), and I think the better choice if work is your main use. It is geared lower (less top speed, more 'grunt') and has slightly more rack capacity. Also, I think for heavy work a solid axle is better than the IRS from a durability standpoint. The Cat has an ingenious system allowing semi-independant rear suspension (better than swingarm style, but not quite up to par with true independant rear), and, it retains a solid axle for work.

There isn't a whole lot of difference. You could almost say the Cat is a slightly more utility version of the Polaris, or you could say the Polaris is a slightly taller, faster version of the cat.

If you want to know what kind of WORK a Cat can do, go to the Cat forum & look up Cowboy. I think he gives some of the best, most informed feedback when it comes to that sort of thing. He loves his Cat, but also is about as unbiased about what his machine will and will not do as anyone.

 

I agree with Farmr123 and I faced the same dilemna when purchasing my machine. My wife and I looked at the Rubicon, Grizzly, Quadmaster, Traxter, AC500 Auto, and SP500 HO. The AC500 Auto was our second choice only because we felt that the SP500 HO was much gentler on the body and we weren't really using it to do much "work." If your primary function is work, the seemingly endless torque of the AC500 gets my vote. If your plan is to use work as an excuse to buy one, but really plan on doing a lot of riding with the guys (or gals ), take the SP500 HO. You didn't mention if money was a consideration, but FYI, I picked up the SP500 HO for $6389 (before tax, tags, and title), but I could have had the AC500 Auto for $5799 (before tax, tags, and title), and I didn't even try to haggle on the price of the AC500 Auto... you should be able to get it for less.

A suggestion would be to give the Magnum 500 a look... pretty much right in between. It is better for work than the SP500 HO with the solid rear axle, but better for trail-riding than the AC500 Auto with the legendary Polaris ride.

 

i've never had to pamper my ac or seek aftermarket help. i think having to keep up with the grease fittings on a sportsman would be a real nag. i've ridden a sportsman and the only benefits i can see above the ac 500 is 1.8" more ground clearance and more top end speed. to me the semi independent susp. on the ac 500 is as close to true independent as one can get and still have the strength of a solid axle. i bought my ac to work first then play so speed was never a concern but low end torque was of utmost concern. don't get me wrong, i like polaris, they make some damn good quads, but for my purpose arctic cat came out the winner.

texascat

 

I had a AC 500 Auto for 2 weeks, sold it after 105 miles back to the dealer on consignment, took 2 months, but only lost $500. Bought a Sportsman, sold it after 350 miles to my bud, bought an H.O. Sportsman. I think I liked the regular sportsman the best of the bunch. The H.O. is great too, but it's promise of more power has been a bit of a let down, because it is not much more powerful or much faster, but it does have some nice improvements like the steel brake lines and the new steering bearing but whoop de doo, those should have been model year improvements, not a whole new "H.O" model.
The Arctic Cat was fast in a straight line, great creeper, and tough as nails,
but driving them fast is a nightmare. They "push"
in the turns, understeer that is. When you turn the handlebars they want to keep going straight.
On the trails we ride, I was working the handlebars way too much, and getting one to slide around a corner is tough. Add the sloppy semi-independent rear suspension and you get body roll in these same turns just to screw you up even more. If they'd put an anti-sway bar and widen the rear track, which is only 45", fix the front end geometry or whatever is making it understeer,
you'd have something. As is a 500AutoCat is good around the farm, good in mud, great creeper on the rocks and up hills. I like their 4-wheel drive system, the Polaris guys will call it 3-wheel drive, but I've seen lots of Polaris 2 wheel drives that thought they were 4x4's. IT doesn't always work and must be maintained impeccably. But if you like to push the limits of adhesion forget the Arctic Cat. The sportsman is a Sport/utility. It is fun to drive fast and handles very well for a near 700 lb pig. The fully independent rear suspension with anti-sway bar is utterly fantastic and the Sportsman's claim to fame. With just a hint of oversteer, a little tweak of the handlebars and the throttle will slide/glide you right around turns, the great suspension will soak up bumps that will send a Honda Foreman flying Butt bouncing. The Sportsman does everything well, it does a few things great. Right now I'm still looking for more speed.That may mean a big bad sport quad if I can't get it out of the H.O. It may be that no amount of engine tuning will work to overcome the tremendous weight disadvantage.
Silly Later,,,,,Fourlix